This invention relates to a connector for quickly and easily attaching an anchor strap to a sidewall bracket of a manufactured home; the sidewall bracket adapted for attachment of an anchor strap. Additionally, the connector can pivot to prevent stress concentrations in the anchor strap.
Manufactured homes, such as mobile homes, trailers, and prefabricated homes, are manufactured at a factory and moved to a site where they are xe2x80x9cset up,xe2x80x9d that is placed on supports, such as blocks or piers. Typically, to secure the manufactured home during transit, a plurality of sidewall brackets are attached to the manufactured home""s lower support frame. Sidewall brackets are typically attached at least every 5-6 feet around the periphery of the manufactured home. Each sidewall bracket includes means, such as a slot, for attachment of a tie down strap, and the tie down straps secure the home to the transport vehicle. Later these sidewall brackets are used to tether the manufactured home to the ground. Anchor straps are typically elongate thin wide steel straps.
Upon setup, attaching anchor straps to all of the sidewall brackets is very time consuming. Therefore, it would be desirable to have a device for facilitating faster attachment of anchor straps.
Additionally, in the field upon setup, strap connections, such as clamps, are difficult to uniformly execute such that such connections are more likely to fail when stressed. Therefore, it is desirable to have a means for reducing the number of connections made in the field.
Also, a problem arises should the manufactured home move, such as a result of an earthquake or hurricane, in a direction substantially in the plane of the anchor strap. As the home moves, the edge of the strap on the side away from the movement is highly stressed such that failure typically results. Thus, current anchor straps attempt to prevent the home from movement, but once the home does move, the straps tend to break, such that they provide no further securing. Therefore, it is desirable to have an anchor strap that does not fail should the home shift a small distance such that the home is provided some protection against further movement.
This invention is a connector for quickly and easily connecting an anchor strap to a sidewall bracket of a manufactured home; the sidewall bracket of the type having a front side, a rear side, and an elongate horizonal slot having a receiving surface, a width, and a height. The anchor strap has an upper end and a lower end.
The connector includes a central portion including an upper end and a lower end, which includes means for connecting the upper end of the strap. An attachment portion includes a neck and a head. The neck has a width narrower than the width of the slot, a height less than the height of the slot, a first end connected to the central portion, and a second end. The head is connected to the second end of the neck and includes a dimension greater than the width of the slot.
The attachment portion is adapted to be maneuverable, when not tensioned, between an unattached position and an attached position wherein the neck resides in the slot, the head and body are on opposite sides of the bracket, and the head will not pass through the slot when the strap is tensioned. In the attached position, the neck is pivotable in the slot about an axis substantially perpendicular to an attached tensioned strap.
A connector assembly includes the strap already attached to the connector.
The method for anchoring the sidewall bracket to a ground anchor comprises the steps of: providing a connector assembly including: a connector including: an attachment portion connectable to the slot with a rotating maneuver; and an elongate strap having a connection end connected to the connector and an anchor end; wherein an attached connector is pivotable in the slot about an axis substantially perpendicular to an attached tensioned strap; connecting the connector to the slot by rotating the connector such that the attachment portion connects through the slot; connecting the anchor end of the strap to an anchor; and tensioning the strap.
Other features and many attendant advantages of the invention will become more apparent upon a reading of the following detailed description together with the drawings wherein like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout.